To investigate the effect of control-surface freeplay, an aeroelastic wind-tunnel model of a T-tail with freeplay in the control chain was developed. The T-tail rig presents a conventional vertical fin represented only by its main structural component: the main spar. No aerodynamic sectors have been used to reproduce the aerodynamic contribution of a horizontal tail. This was chosen because of the limited size of the wind-tunnel chamber. Two numerical models were developed. The first one describes the dynamics of the tail by a state-space system with nonlinearity represented as a lumped element in the actuator feedback loop, and the second is described by the high-order harmonic balance approach, where the response of the nonlinear system is approximated with a periodic signal. The two approaches are then validated against experimental measurements collected during wind-tunnel testing. The results of this validation process as well the numerical and experimental approaches adopted are reported in this paper.


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    Title :

    Freeplay-Induced Limit-Cycle Oscillations in a T-Tail: Numerical vs Experimental Validation


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Journal of Aircraft ; 52 , 2 ; 486-495


    Publication date :

    2015-03-01




    Type of media :

    Conference paper , Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English





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